Will eSports events get bigger than the EPT & WSOP?
Will we soon see a day when video game events give away more six and seven-figure prizes than live poker tournaments?
This week we wrote about how the first prize for a Dota 2 event was bigger than the first prize for the WSOP Main Event. The difference is that it is a team event with the prize shared between five people, but it is an interesting landmark for eSports.
The prize pool in this event has increased rapidly in just a few years, just as they they have in lots of other eSports. The first Dota 2 International in 2011 had a $1 million first prize, this year it looks like it will be close to $9 million.
Could it be that eSports tournaments will soon be regularly bigger than poker tournaments?
Bigger than Hollywood
In a very short space of time we have seen eSports tournaments offer up six and seven-figure prizes, as well as people become legitimate professional gamers. While this might seem ludicrous to non-gamers it is worth remembering that the video games industry is bigger than Hollywood and estimated to be worth over $91 billion. It stands to reason that some of the most talented and enthusiastic patrons of this industry could make a living by just playing.
Unlike poker, however, eSports is currently a very top heavy industry for the professional players. Only the biggest tournaments and the best gamers deal with prizes which someone could reasonably quit a regular job for. In most cases the revenue comes exclusively from sponsorship, which as we know in poker, really is only the domain of a lucky few.
While there is something of a class ceiling in eSports the same cannot be said for poker. Though the game is tougher than the ‘good old days’ the fact is that a hard working player with a bit of talent can make a living from the game without become one of the elites or famous. A grinder can make a living at NL100 but it is much harder for the equivalent level player in eSports to do the same.
New opportunities to make money
However, the opportunities for gamers to make a living are getting better all the time. As well as being the best players, gamers also make money from things like broadcasting on Twitch and YouTube, as well as other more creative avenues such as selling in-game merchandise and even gambling on games.
The ways in which eSports events are funded are also changing and poker should take note. Dota 2, for example, is funding this year’s International event by taking 25% of the revenue from every ‘expansion pack’ sold, which has helped create this mind blowing prize pool. It’s a shame that this event is invite-only just for the professionals, but no doubt such a model will pave the way for more open events equivalent to the WSOP Main Event in the future. We might even see the traditional poker staple of the players fronting the money themselves.
The eSports industry is also funding itself by selling merchandise and tickets to watch their events live. Again this is a concept many would have once found preposterous but is now commonplace. Poker is seeing the potential in this, both from Twitch streaming and the Global Poker League.
The gaming industry is only getting bigger and over time we will see more innovative ways for it to make money and also pass on those profits to entrepreneurial and talented gamers. It seems inevitable that in the not-too-distant future that eSports will routinely eclipse the EPT and WSOP in terms of prize pools. We could view this as a problem for poker but I prefer to see it as an opportunity for the game, if we can learn from the gaming industry and replicate some of its future successes.
Do you think eSports tournaments will soon be routinely bigger than the WSOP and EPT? Let us know in the comments.
